Thread by @libertyhq

BREAKING

The Met Police has dropped a Community Protection Notice criminalising begging and entering a shop "without a valid reason" after our client started legal action.

This u-turn sends a message to police and councils to stop criminalising poverty
libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/police-d…

Some public bodies like the police, community support officers and local authorities can issue Community Protection Notices (CPNs) that require a person to either do or not do certain things.

It is a criminal offence not to follow a CPN.

Our client, who is anonymous, was given a CPN in October 2021 which prevented various activities including begging and even going into a shop “without a valid reason”.

She was then forced to defend herself against criminal charges for allegedly breaching the CPN.

Liberty challenged the Met’s decision to issue the CPN in the first place, arguing it was unlawful because its terms were copied and pasted rather than relating specifically to our client, officers didn’t give adequate warning to her before issuing the CPN, and gave no evidence.

A matter of days before the court hearing, the Met contacted our client to say it had revoked the CPN.

District Judge Laws said:

"Clearly these are draconian provisions which must be applied with a degree of humanity and proportionality. The [Met] will no doubt think carefully before imposing another notice in similar terms, which seem to me rather lurid and wide ranging."

We've worked with outreach organisations to produce and distribute legal advice cards for people hit with CPNs linked to homelessness.

Get in touch if you or someone you know needs advice:

📧advice (at) liberty human rights (dot) org (dot) uk
📲0207 378 3679